{"id":20912,"date":"2025-10-28T18:25:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ehdin.com\/womens-strong-immune-systems\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T18:25:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:25:32","slug":"womens-strong-immune-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ehdin.com\/en\/womens-strong-immune-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s strong immune systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that men’s and women’s immune systems are different, and women’s are stronger? “Women are simply more immunologically gifted than men”, as immunologist Noel Rose puts it.<\/em><\/strong> Women’s high estrogen levels keep their immune systems in good shape, while men’s androgens* (testosterone most importantly) tend to suppress their immune systems, which, incidentally, hardly change after puberty.<\/strong><\/em> Depending on age, the stage of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, a woman’s immune system changes.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Research has shown that women’s reproductive and immune systems are so closely linked that they act as a feedback system. This means that sex hormones and gonads play a major role in regulating women’s immune systems – and vice versa. <\/p>\n

The cell-mediated immune system (which controls the cell-killing activity of T cells against viruses, among other things) is stimulated by oestrogen, but the humoral immune system (which controls the production of antibodies by B cells) is also stronger in women than in men.<\/p>\n

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The strength of a woman’s immune system varies depending on her age, where she is in her menstrual cycle and whether she is pregnant.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why stronger immune systems?<\/h3>\n

The reason for women’s stronger immune systems is precisely the ability to reproduce, as a woman must be healthy in order to become pregnant. In addition, a woman must be able to cope with the stresses of a long pregnancy and, after giving birth, the stress of feeding, caring for and protecting the baby. <\/p>\n

Women’s high estrogen levels keep the immune system in good shape, while men’s androgens* (testosterone being the most important) tend to suppress their immune system, which hardly changes after puberty.<\/h5>\n

A woman’s immune system becomes stronger at puberty, the cellular immune system is then suppressed during pregnancy, while after the birth of the baby it returns to its previous high level. At the onset of menopause, the immune system is lowered again, unless a series of immune-boosting measures are taken to continue to keep the woman’s immune system in good shape. <\/p>\n

Changes during the fertility cycle<\/h3>\n

The immune system also oscillates within a menstrual cycle, or the fertility cycle<\/strong><\/strong> as I call it for a more positive word<\/strong>: <\/p>\n